All's Fair In Love and War
by Pandemonium King
Summary: Charlie Alexander had always thought it was a stupid concept. If it is not fair, what is love? Is it even true? Or is it always false, fake? And what is war if it is not anything but fair? Will Charlie change her mind when the concept is staring her in the face? When she must embark on a quest to find one who is lost? Or when she finds herself in the process? Is anything ever fair?
1. Chapter 1: Preview

**Chapter One: Preview**

* * *

Meet Charlie Alexander.

Charlie Alexander is a white, thirteen year old female, with eyeballs and hair.

Charlie Alexander has deep brown eyes, and lower-back length, curly, light brown, dirty blond hair that turns blonder in the sunlight, with just a slight, confusing, hint of the faintest shade of light ginger. Charlie insists on it being so confusingly specific.

Charlie Alexander has ADHD and Dyslexia. But yet she always tries to do her best in school. But to her, her best is never good enough.

Charlie Alexander also has three pairs of shoes- boots for the winter, sandals for the summer, and sneakers for when she needs them for PE class, or when she just can't find the other shoe that she is looking for.

Charlie Alexander is also one of those people who likes to yell something random at the top of their lungs in the middle of an empty street and then run for their life. In her case, the random thing she yells is usually- "down with the patriarchy!" She just thinks it sounds cool.

Charlie Alexander enjoys many things, including thinking, reading, and silence.

Oh, and savoring those rare, sweet moments when she is not crying, yelling, screaming, being teased, throwing things against the wall in rage, or just on the verge of an outburst, knowing that something bad is going to happen, and wanting to stop herself, but also not wanting to at the same time, and then remembering exactly why she has precisely one and a half friends.

Well, that escalated quickly, didn't it? How about we talk about something lighter, shall we?

Charlie Alexander is part of a family of five, which consists of her stepfather, Derek Miller. Her elder stepsister, Kristen Lawrence. Her half brother, Andrew Mortimer Miller. Her mother, Helen Mary Alexander. And herself, Charlie Lana Alexander.

Derek had married Helen while she was pregnant with Charlie. It was his second marriage, and her first. Ever since Charlie was old enough to comprehend the situation, Helen would tell her stories about her father. Charlie was so fascinated by the stories of her wonderful father, that Derek grew jealous.

He started to develop an immense dislike towards Charlie. When Helen wasn't around, he would sit Charlie down and tell her everything she was doing wrong, and what she had to do right. He seldom gave Kristen any chores, and only when Charlie wasn't around to do them.

He would give her punishments for things she had no control over, like not going to school, even if she was ill. He kept reminding her that she wasn't even his real daughter, so she was lucky that he was treating her with such kindness.

Just like a gender swapped evil stepmother from Cinderella.

Kristen was the product of an affair Derek had while he was with his first wife. When his wife found out, they divorced. Later, he gained custody of Kristen because her mother had developed a drinking problem, and was declared unfit to care for her.

Kristen is now seventeen, and making sure that Charlie was aware that she was not as beautiful as her. That she was not as popular as her. That she was not as smart as her. And that she was not as great as her. And that she never will be.

Charlie agrees with all of those things, except for one. Charlie knows she's smarter than Kristen. As far as Charlie is concerned, Kristen has the IQ level of a plastic house plant.

Andrew is Derek and Helen's child together. They had him when Charlie was five years old, and Kristen was nine. Andrew usually likes Charlie, but he definitely likes Kristen more. Andrew is probably one of the cutest children Charlie has ever met, but boy was he a handful.

Charlie can't help but love Andrew, even though he usually gets on her nerves way too easily. When they weren't arguing, Charlie just wants to wrap her arms around him and kiss him all over his adorable head.

But, the thing is, Andrew doesn't really like that. Only when he is in a really good mood does he let Charlie hug and kiss him. But he lets Kristen smother him with love at any time. This makes Charlie feel left out, and alone. She feels like she's less important, and less likeable.

Helen is the only one who truly loved Charlie for who she is. Although she would get mad at her frequently, she never stopped loving and caring for her. Past tense.

When Andrew was born, Derek's job as a software architect was no longer enough for the family. Helen immediately noticed the problem and took matters into her own hands. She decided to get a job.

When she got a job as a secretary for a highly ranked employee at some company, Helen was barely home anymore. Andrew would go to a daycare during the day, Kristen to school, and after school, Charlie would go to a friend's house until she could be picked up.

When Derek had days off of work, and Charlie was home after school, Charlie would hide in her room and read unless she had to come out for one reason or another. For example, use the bathroom, eat, or be called down by Derek to do a chore, like hand Kristen the television remote that was laying exactly a meter away from her on the other side of the couch she was sitting on.

Then, one day, Helen went to work, but she never came back home.

They never found a body. The police had taken into account evidence that they had found on her car, and concluded that she had been somehow electrocuted while driving home, most likely struck by lightning. They couldn't explain her missing body, though.

After years without Helen to keep him in check, Derek just became worse and worse. He always took Andrew's and Kristen's sides of the arguments. He always yelled at Charlie for little things. He always made Charlie feel like nothing.

He would lower her self esteem with insults, complaints, and claims. He would tell she was stupid, ugly, and unlikable. He would say she was too lazy, too annoying, too dumb. He would claim she was worthless, an idiot, an embarrassment.

It got so bad that by sixth grade Charlie had developed a severe case of anxiety. She didn't talk to people anymore, only her closest friend. When seventh grade rolled around, Charlie still didn't know over half of the people in her class by the end of the first semester, five months into the school year, and she still didn't for a long time after.

If someone did something that upset her, she would only say anything to them if, A. she would never need to speak to them ever again. Or B. she already knew them closely enough. She was too scared that they would actually say something back.

She just hated it when she would gently point out to someone that they're doing something generally very rude, and then they would reply with either, "okay, gosh. No need to be so angry and in my face," or, "oh my God. What's your problem? You have issues. No need to scream."

Sometimes, when Derek spontaneously lost his temper, and got very mad, very fast, he would grab the thing closest to him that was guaranteed not to actually kill Charlie, and chuck it at her. But Charlie doesn't like to think about those times. They're so rare that they're barely significant, right?

Well, that escalated again. How about we move on. Let's talk about the day when Charlie's life changed for good.

* * *

 **So? What did you think?**

 **I know, I know. I'm not the best writer. I swear it all sounded so much better in my head.**

 **Do you think it's _bad_ to give out all the information about Charlie in the first "Pilot Preview Backstory" chapter? B** **ecause, I think I literally already ran out of information about her, besides the things that you're going to find out later on in the story on your own. Oops.**

 **If any of you are pretty confident in your answers to my following question, please be the ones to answer. Okay, the question is, how many words approximately are a _short_ chapter, and approximately how many in a _long_ one, and, how many in one with a perfect length? Thanks.**

 **I sincerely hope you enjoyed this First Chapter, and aren't too upset about the hiatus on Solangelo Magic. My bad.**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 ** _\- Pandemonium_**


	2. Chapter 2: The Worst Day

**Chapter Two: The Worst Day**

* * *

Charlie Alexander was having a bad day even before she was attacked. It all started in science class, when she got her test back from the teacher. 98 percent. That's fine.

Then, in history class, she got her other test back. 89 percent. Her initial thought was, _well, crap_ , but then a bigger realization hit her. _Derek is going to kill me. Goodbye world. Please, just take me, Death._

After that, for her last period, she had math. She sat at her desk in the second row and tried to listen. She looked at the board and grimaced. She couldn't even read it. She blinked and discovered that she had missed twenty five minutes, and the lesson was over. Charlie was convinced that she was going to fail everything, and all her semi-hard work was in vain.

Charlie got her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She walked down the hall with her head down, per usual. Taunts and laughs followed her to the door. She looked back at the clique of mean girls behind her, before opening the door and hurrying out.

Charlie walked up the street in the direction of her house. She tried to remember everywhere she went wrong.

Had she forgotten to hand in her homework one too many times, and the teacher decided to take points off the test for it? Did she not study hard enough? Is she really just stupid?

Even though she was deep in thought, she didn't stop noticing this disturbing feeling that someone, or something, was following her. She tried to ignore the feeling, but she couldn't. She quickly looked back and shook her head. Of course there was nothing there. She looked back to where she was going, and immediately the feeling returned.

She looked back again. There was still nothing there. But this time she got angry. "Harvey, I swear to God, if that's you-" Of course, nothing.

Again, she looked back and tried, frustrated, to ignore the feeling. But she simply couldn't. She looked back, just one more time, and met the face of the most terrifying thing she has ever seen.

Of course, it was a giant scorpion the size of a grown horse. Just her luck.

Charlie shrieked and stuck to the wall. She backed away from the monster slowly, feeling the wall under her hands, guiding herself away, not taking her eyes off the scorpion. But then it made a sound, Charlie couldn't tell what it was, but she was officially 100 percent done.

She ran now, but still not taking her eyes off the monster, running backwards. She ran quickly, but carefully. She looked down every few moments for a split second to make sure she wasn't going to step on a rock, trip, and die anyway despite her efforts not to.

She continued running until she ran back-first into a wall. Looking around frantically, Charlie discovered that she ran straight into an alley. Charlie didn't want to die surrounded by smelly garbage dumpsters.

The monster came closer, and Charlie didn't dare make a run for it. With all the garbage bags surrounding her, she wouldn't have nearly enough room to dash sideways away from the giant scorpion and still be out of its reach.

Charlie shut her eyes tightly as the monster crept towards her slowly. _This is it,_ Charlie thought. _I'm going to die. This is the end. It's not so bad, actually._ Charlie let her eyelids relax, and took a deep breath. She had accepted death and was ready to die. She always knew this day would come. The day she died. And she was ready now.

She sank back against the wall and sat down, her legs pressed against her body, her head in her knees, as if to tell the monster, _I surrender_.

But instead of excruciating and agonizing pain followed by death, came only the voice of a yelling boy. "Hey, Scorpy! Who let you out of Tartarus? I think you should go back! I heard they have a great plumbing system!"

Charlie lifted her head and forced herself to open her eyes. She saw the scorpion, now not facing her, but a boy near the mouth of the alley. He had dark hair, the ears of an elf, and a tool belt around his waist. And he was pelting the monster with nuts and bolts that he kept pulling more and more of from his tool belt.

Charlie looked the other way, where another boy, with jet black hair, a bright orange shirt, and a Bronze sword was sneaking up on the scorpion from behind. He saw Charlie looking at him, and held a finger to his lips.

The boy with the bright orange shirt continued to sneak up on the giant scorpion, while the other continued to distract it. When the boy reached the scorpion, he stabbed it with his sword, pushing the blade deeper into its side. Instantly, the scorpion turned to dust, and it was no more.

Tool Belt Guy ran up to Sword Guy and gave him a high five. Sword Guy laughed and slapped Tool Belt Guy on the shoulder. While they were distracted, Charlie slowly rose to her feet, picked up her bag, and started walking slowly away.

Charlie's heart was beating so hard and fast that it physically hurt her. Her head was pounding, her legs were shaking, she could barely breathe. Charlie faintly cried out as she tripped over herself and fell to the ground, right next to a trash bag, catching a whiff of the pungent stench.

But Charlie recovered quickly, getting to her feet, and inhaling sharply when she met the face of Tool Belt Guy. He held his hand up.

"Where do you think you're going?" he asked threateningly as his hand spontaneously burst into flames.

Charlie choked back a single sob, and squeaked instead.

"Stop scaring the girl, Leo! Or I'll tell Calypso you didn't like her brownies!" The other boy called.

Tool Belt Guy, Leo, spun around to face the other. "That's not fair, Percy! I did like them, everyone does!"

Sword Guy, Percy, grinned maniacally. "That's not going to stop me," he said in a low voice.

Percy walked over to Charlie, his hand outstretched for a handshake. "Hi, I'm Percy, Percy Jackson. And this idiot over here is Leo Valdez."

Charlie didn't say anything. How could she? She had nearly just died. What did they expect? She was traumatized. Also, she didn't like talking to people.

"Are you going to tell us your name?" Percy asked.

Charlie didn't move. She realized something. She looked at Percy's hand. Yes, his sword was gone.

"Can you say something? Talk to us?" Percy looked worried. Maybe if she did something they would just leave her alone.

"Can you speak English?" Leo asked, concerned. Charlie hesitated, and then nodded.

"Then can you tell us your name?" Percy asked. Charlie shook her head no.

"Then, how about a pseudonym? Can we at least get a fake name?" Leo urged.

Charlie hesitated. You know what? That wasn't the worst idea.

"Charlie," she squeaked quietly.

That is her pseudonym. Charlie.

Percy frowned. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't hear you."

Charlie said a little louder, though still pretty quietly, "Charlie. Alexander. Charlie Alexander."

She decided to keep her last name.

"Alright, Charlie. Are you okay?" Percy sounded concerned, as if suddenly knowing her name meant she was much more important and concerning.

Charlie shook her head. Percy hummed, fishing a plastic bag out of his pocket. Charlie couldn't recognize what the bag's contents were exactly, but she knew it was food even before Percy took out a small piece and handed it out to Charlie, saying, "here. Eat it. It'll help."

Charlie didn't even think it was physically possible, but her heart started beating even faster than before. _Oh no._ Charlie could feel it coming. The words. Swirling in her gut, making their way up her esophagus, about to flow out of her mouth. She was going to embarrass herself, stutter, end up forgetting the words she was going to use midway through her sentence.

Charlie looked from the piece of foodstuff in Percy's hand, up to his face, back to his hand, and back to his face again.

"Do you take me for some kind of idiot?" Charlie blurted out.

Percy frowned. "What? Why?"

"I know b-better than to accept this b-bizarre food a stranger j-just handed me, who, b-by the way, has a _w-weapon_. I d-don't think so, P-Percy Jackson. In fact, s-speaking of you t-two b-being strangers, I really sh-shouldn't be talking to you a-anyway, so, I'm just g-gonna g-go, okay? if you t-try to talk to me again, I-I'll c-cut you. G-Good day."

Charlie's heart was hammering in her chest, her head was throbbing, her legs felt like jelly. She weakly limped one step, then, with a bit of more confidence, started storming angrily away. Before she was more than a few steps away, though, Leo grabbed her shoulders and spun her around, while insisting, " listen-" But as soon as Charlie realized what was happening, she shrieked "don't touch me!" so loudly, with such a high pitch, that a very startled Leo let her go, and she ran away as fast as her jelly-like legs could carry her.

* * *

Charlie pushed the door handle down so frantically it made a sound she was pretty sure it shouldn't make. She pushed the door open violently, and then slammed it shut furiously behind her.

She barged up the stairs to her room with tears in her eyes, ignoring the piercing howls and barks of Kristen's German Shepherd, Kiddo. It was obvious how he felt about the door slamming and screaming coming from the front hall.

Charlie reached her room, wildly pushed open the door, kicked off her shoes, and flung herself onto her bed. She grabbed her pillow and sobbed into it.

She sobbed into her pillow until the tears stopped coming. She hadn't realized that her eyes had dried until she yawned, and they once again had tears in them.

Her eyes drooped, and slowly, she put her pillow back on the mattress, stretched her legs, lay her head on the pillow, and fell asleep. It truly was the worst day.

* * *

 **Hello again.**

 **In case you didn't understand, Charlie isn't Charlie's real name. It's a pseudonym. However, Alexander is her real last name. Her real first name will be revealed later on in the story. Also, in chapter one, I said that Charlie's second name is Lana, that's also her real second name.**

 **I know it's extremely early in the story to start telling you that if you have any ideas, Private Message them to me, but maybe it won't be too terrible to add something of yours later on in the story. I'm sure you have a very fuzzy mental image of the timeline of the story, which is -**

 **\- Now - Charlie discovers she's a demigod - Schist happens - End -**

 **So you could probably for example give me a synopsis of something that would happen at camp half-blood, like how Charlie meets a specific person, or how she gets claimed. You don't necessarily have to know Charlie's Godly parent to think of a way for her to be claimed, if you think about it.**

 **In case you didn't realize Charlie was a demigod, and I just spoiled everything for you, I honestly don't know what to say to you.**

 **I hope you enjoyed. Please review, follow, and favorite.**

 ** _\- Pandemonium_**


	3. Chapter 3: The Guests at the Door

**Chapter Three: The Guests at the Door**

* * *

Around twenty four hours later, Charlie was sitting on the sofa in her living room, watching Doctor Who, trying to forget about the previous day's events, when she heard a knock on the front door.

At once, Charlie's heart rate quickened. She looked over in the direction of the front hall, hoping that if she stayed quiet, the visitors would leave.

In fact, she was home alone at the moment, and there was no reason for visitors to come for her. What, or whom they needed probably wasn't available

She paused the television, just as The Tenth Doctor exclaimed, " _I'm The Doctor, and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour!_ " And just sat there, listening to the silence.

There was another knock, and this time, Kiddo came scrambling down the stairs, barking.

This time, the following knock came quicker. It became obvious to Charlie that they wouldn't be giving up anytime soon when they knocked yet again.

She waited a moment, looking at the TV, appreciating the greatness of David Tennant's frozen face, before she would be getting up to see who it was.

 _It's a hard decision to choose between David Tennant and Matt Smith, but David Tennant is definitely the better Doctor,_ Charlie thought.

Charlie peeled herself away from the sofa, and slowly walked to the door. Kiddo was still barking, and the visitors knocked again.

Charlie stood on her toes and peered through the peephole. There were two people behind the door: a boy, and a girl. The girl looked about thirteen, Charlie's age, while the boy looked around sixteen or seventeen, Kristen's age.

The boy had jet black hair, sea green eyes, and a blue shirt. He wasn't bad looking either. The girl was also very pretty.

She had long, wavy dark brown hair, light skin, high cheekbones, hazel-green eyes, large round glasses, freckles, and a collared white shirt under a gray knitted sweater, and a black tie.

Charlie wished she could be as beautiful as her.

Charlie turned sideways towards the mirror that was always hanging in the front hall, and became suddenly aware of her hair being in a messy, tangled, ponytail.

Charlie quickly arranged her hair and braced herself. She took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and pulled it open.

Before Charlie could say anything, as if she were going to say anything first anyway, the boy said, "we need to talk."

Charlie cocked her head to the side. "Sorry, you must be looking for Kristen."

The boy shook his head. "No, I'm looking for you, Charlie."

Charlie frowned. She was confused, her name wasn't even Charlie. "My name isn't Charlie." Although...

"No, it's not," the boy replied, suddenly slightly distressed. "It's the pseudonym you chose, remember?"

Charlie inhaled. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

The boy looked at her, now more distressed than before. "Are you serious? I'm Percy, from-"

The girl put her hand on Percy's shoulder to silence him. "Percy, there's a smarter way to do this." She looked at Charlie. "Hello, I'm Robin Keller, pleasure to meet you." She pointed to Percy. "This is Percy Jackson, the guy who saved you with Leo Valdez yesterday. Are you going to close the door on me now?"

The boy from yesterday! How could she forget? One day, her terrible memory will get her killed.

But the events of the previous day had all happened so fast. How does anyone remember anything in times like those?

Charlie didn't want to admit it, but she didn't even see Robin's point, she was just so persuasive. "N-No," she whispered quietly. "I suppose not. Nice to meet you, Robin Keller."

Curious. Usually, Charlie instantaneously forgets someone's name as soon as they've introduced themselves. This time something seems to be different.

"I can tell you don't want to talk to us, because we're strangers. But what if we weren't strangers? Would you talk to us then?" Robin looked visibly apprehensive.

Charlie liked the sound of that. That sounded good. Yes.

Charlie gave a small nod. Percy smiled. "Great."

Charlie slowly opened the door and stepped aside. Robin and Percy walked in, and at once, Kiddo came darting into the front hall, barking and howling at them loudly.

Percy and Robin jumped back, startled, and then relaxed quickly when they saw him more clearly.

Charlie, sharp eyed as always, noticed this. "Don't like dogs?"

Percy looked at Charlie. Robin looked at Kiddo. Despite his menacing and ferocious demeanor, Robin seemed awed by him.

"Aww! Boy or girl? And, do they bite?" She looked at Charlie, excited.

"Boy, his name's Kiddo, and, no, he doesn't bite. You can pet him," Charlie replied gladly.

The moment Kiddo was declared safe by Charlie, Robin dropped to her knees and wrapped her arms around Kiddo's body, who became quiet on contact.

Robin was smothering Kiddo with kisses, caresses, and embraces, and Charlie was watching her. Percy leaned against the wall and too watched Robin.

After a few moments, Kiddo broke away from Robin, ran to his bed, and curled up on it.

Robin stood up, and followed Charlie into the living room. When she saw the frozen image of the Tenth Doctor standing by a fireplace with a maniac grin on his face on the TV, she squealed quietly.

"Is that _The Girl in the Fireplace_?" She demanded, pointing to the TV.

Charlie grinned. "Yes. Are you a Doctor Who fan?"

Robin's face fell. "Well, I uh, don't have a television anymore, so I don't watch it anymore, but I used to be a huge Whovian."

Charlie's heart beat was completely calm now. They had something to talk about.

"I kinda like Doctor Who too, you know," Percy piped up.

Robin looked at him with a bored expression on her face. "Annabeth already told me that. She never shuts up about you, you know."

Charlie felt a little left out. She didn't want to sound rude, but, on the other hand, she didn't like feeling left out. A true dilemma for one as shy as she. So, naturally, her heart beat just a bit faster as soon as it was completely calm.

"Who's Annabeth?"

"Oh, she's my girlfriend. And, uh, Robin's half sister," Percy replied nonchalantly, looking around the living room.

A bookcase stood near the glass door that leads to the very much dead garden. The bottom shelves were filled with card games, board games, puzzles, pretty much anything Andrew could ask for.

The higher shelves were filled with junk and other junk and only junk. And the very first and highest shelf was used to display Derek's extravagant shot glass collection.

Andrew's unfinished game of snakes and ladders was strewn across the floor, there were crumpled up tissues everywhere, and Kiddo's toys were scattered on the floor.

Charlie felt extremely uncomfortable because of the mess. First off, it was messy. Second, she had guests, and the house was in no shape to welcome any at that moment.

They all were silent for a few moments too long, at least in Charlie's opinion. "I'm gonna go use the bathroom, I'll be right back, okay?"

And with that, she hurried up the stairs to the second storey bathroom. She closed the door behind herself and locked it. Leaning against the door, she sank into a sitting position.

 _Deep breaths, Charlie_ , she thought to herself. She decided to stay in the bathroom for as long as needed for her to feel comfortable again.

That didn't exactly go as planned. Charlie heard the voices of Percy and Robin bickering as they came closer to her, ascending on the stairs and passing her in the bathroom, making their way to somewhere else.

Charlie didn't feel very comfortable with them waltzing through her house aimlessly, so she got up, unlocked the door, stuck her head out, looked both ways, and witnessed them bickering in her bedroom. She was so glad her room happened to be extremely clean at the moment.

Her heart rate quickened yet again, but this time she was irritated. She stalked over to them and asked them loudly, "what are you two doing in my room?"

They stopped bickering and turned around to look at her. Robin then looked, infuriated, at Percy. "I told you it's extremely rude to go about someone's house uninvited!"

"I'm sorry!" Percy exclaimed. "I just wanted to have a look around your room to, you know, learn some stuff about you. I didn't mean to be rude."

Frankly, Charlie felt flattered to have someone want to learn things about her, but, still...

Charlie walked over to her bed and flopped down on it. She crossed her arms. "Well, if you must know, ask me anything. Almost, actually. Almost anything. Probably."

Percy sat down on the floor with his legs crossed, while Robin pulled out Charlie's wheeled ottoman - the one that Helen had made her from a car tire - from behind her door and sat on that.

"What should we ask you?" Percy asked Charlie.

Robin looked at him like he just squirted hairspray into his own eyes and was surprised when it hurt. "That's literally the stupidest question you could ask someone, Percy."

"What do you want me to do about it? I don't know what to ask her," Percy replied defensively.

Charlie sighed. "Don't worry. I keep a list of small talk questions on me and in my room at all times in case of emergency."

She got up and walked over to her desk, opened the top drawer, and grabbed a folded piece of paper from the top of a pile of thin notebooks.

"Emergency?" Percy repeated quizzically as Charlie strode back over to her bed and flopped down on it.

"Having to talk to people." Charlie unfolded the paper. "I have one condition, though. We all have to answer the questions. I'm the one who needs, or, maybe wants, to get to know the other. I don't know why you're so insistent to talk to me, anyway," she added under her breath.

"Now, who wants to read the questions?"

Percy held his hand out for Charlie to give him the paper. Charlie handed him the paper and snatched her pillow from the head of her bed, positioned it against the wall behind her, and leaned against it comfortably.

"Okay, first question, what do you want to be when you grow up?" Percy read. He looked up from the paper and gazed out the window.

He grinned. "Scuba instructor."

Robin snorted. "Figures."

Charlie didn't need any time to think. "I want to be an author. No contest. That's all I've ever wanted to be." She cleared her throat. She must have sounded asinine. "What about you, Robin?"

"College professor. I've always wanted to be a teacher, but I just don't think I can deal with a room full of childish brats. So I compromised, and decided to deal with a room full of less childish brats who aren't actually even children anymore. I know how bad this makes me sound, but I honestly can't stand children. They're just dirty, sticky, sacks of germs. Especially five year olds."

"How so?" Charlie asked.

"Well, pretty much all children are feeding themselves by the time they're five, resulting in dried food all around their mouths. They also practically all throw tantrums when their parents try to blow their nose for them, which results in dried snot all over next to their nostrils.

"They're always screaming at the top of their lungs. Some have an annoying speech impediment and you don't know what they're saying, and they just end up screaming the thing their trying to say to you over and over and you have no idea what to do, and it's really stressful.

"Then, if they happen to start school when they're five and not six, they always get home from school in a bad mood because they hate school.

"You couldn't pay me forty bucks a week to babysit six at a time. I swear, I'm never doing that again. What a nightmare."

Robin finished her rant and scowled at nothing. Charlie could not express how she couldn't agree more in any way other than saying, "Tell me about it. My brother, well, half brother, was a complete and utter nightmare. He usually still is, actually."

Charlie laughed, but she was secretly crying on the inside. She felt so jealous of Kristen, whom was always loved unconditionally by Andrew. While she occasionally even tried to do nice things for Andrew, and then he would love her for about fifteen minutes and no more.

"Okay, next question." Percy frowned. "Oh, it's actually crossed out. Wait…"

Charlie didn't exactly know what to do, does she tell Percy what the question is, or does she leave it crossed out? Who even has favorite books anymore, besides Charlie. Usually, other kids would laugh at her for liking to read so much. They tease her for wanting to be an author.

"Oh wait, it says, what's your favorite book?" Percy managed to read the question with some difficulty. "I don't really read, actually."

Charlie realized that she had just been disappointed, why hadn't she been aware of her own hope that Percy would be a reader? She didn't know what she had expected.

"Well, mine is Wonder, by R. J. Palacio. Have you heard of it?" Charlie answered the question hesitantly but quickly. She had so many favorite books, how was she supposed to choose? Luckily, she likes to spend time thinking, and she always ends up thinking about books, and which is her favorite, she usually comes up with different conclusions every time, but lately, it's mostly been Wonder. So that's what she went with.

"Oh, I love Wonder! It's a great book. But not my favorite." Robin seemed very cheerful that Charlie's favorite book is one that she has read, and even better, liked.

"My favorite is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. No one loves Harry Potter as much as I do, which is not a proud comment, it's a sad one, because even all my 'Harry Potter insane' friends think I'm freaky." Robin got a slightly sad look in her eyes, but she quickly suppressed it and was cheerful again.

Holy crap… Charlie thought. She likes Harry Potter!

Robin turned to Percy, who was examining the list of questions. "I think you could have been quite the book fan, Percy. It's a shame you aren't."

Not looking up from the list, Percy inquired, "and why is that?"

"Because of your mother. Annabeth told me she wants to be a writer. It's true, isn't it? She could've raised you to read books twenty four seven."

"Well it's kind of hard to like reading when you're dyslexic and everyone just says you're lazy and forces you to read against your will. You've probably never had a problem with that, have you? People probably had to force you to stop to read." Percy chuckled.

"No. My dad wouldn't tell me to stop reading, even if the dyslexia made it hurt my brain a lot. What else do you think my mother saw in my father?"

Charlie wasn't really listening, she just kind of zoned out. She was faintly aware of Percy and Robin discussing reading, and their struggles with dyslexia. When her brain actually started processing what she was hearing, thanks to dyslexia, Charlie's trigger word, she snapped to attention.

"You two have dyslexia?" Charlie asked enthusiastically. Percy and Robin nodded, smiling to themselves.

"Me too! Wow, what a coincidence."

Robin smiled. "Yeah… Coincidence."

* * *

 **Hello, readers!**

 **I am _so_** **sorry for this extremely late update! I swear that not all updates will be this far apart!**

 **I never had any time to write, I was always so swamped with other things!**

 **I promise that the next update won't be as late!**

 **I'll try and update every week or so. Also, I don't write on Fridays and Saturdays. So don't expect an Update Schedule chiseled to perfection. I may be late on some deadlines.**

 **Again, I'm very sorry for this late update. Really, I am.**

 **Yours truly,**

 _ **\- Pandemonium**_


	4. Chapter 4: To New Friends

**Warning: Contains mentions of depression, domestic emotional and verbal abuse. (I may need to add more when it seems necessary or I have decided to add another element to the story that requires a warning.)**

 **\- WARNING - THIS NEXT WARNING CONTAINS A SPOILER -**

 **Also warning: LGBTQ+ characters. (If you have a problem with that, I advise you to leave, before all of Nico's self-proclaimed spouses, parents, and siblings come after you [AKA me].)**

* * *

 **Chapter Four: New Friends**

* * *

And so they continued with their "not so small talk", slowly getting to know each other more and more. Though not as much as Charlie thought.

"Okay, next…" Percy was smiling; he looked down at the list of questions and frowned. "What's your Hog- Hogwarts house…?" Robin shot to her feet.

"You read Harry Potter and you didn't say anything!?" Her tone was the tone of - 'pretending to be jokingly angry when you're actually kind of upset about the matter because you're very passionate about the subject at hand'.

Charlie internally face-palmed. Why didn't she say anything? "Yes." Was all Charlie could say after she took her thinking time to scold herself.

"Well? What's your house?" Robin said, now calmly, but yet excitedly, sitting back down on the ottoman. "Ravenclaw," Charlie replied proudly.

Robin shot to her feet again. "No kidding! Me too!" They high fived enthusiastically.

"What are you talking about? I don't really know anything about the Hogwarts houses, guys," Percy said in a pleading sort of tone.

Charlie turned to Percy excitedly, more than ready to share her extensive knowledge and wisdom regarding the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter.

"Okay, so there are four houses – Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. In short, the Gryffindors are brave and chivalrous and whatnot; Hufflepuffs are just and loyal; Ravenclaws are wise and witty; and Slytherins are cunning and ambitious; right?"

But Percy still looked confused. Charlie was never any good at explaining anything. Percy looked over at Robin as if to telepathically tell her that he has no idea what Charlie just said, and he needs her side of things.

"Okay, picture this, instead of houses, you have cabins, right? And so Gryffindor would be Ares; Hufflepuff would probably be Demeter, although not necessarily, It's really more of a stereotype; Ravenclaw would be Athena; and Slytherin would be Hermes. Better?"

Wait, what were they talking about? Ancient Greek gods? From like, mythology? That wasn't actually a bad idea if your friend is a Greek mythology nerd. And honestly, the comparisons weren't far off. They were actually pretty accurate. But what cabins were they talking about? What do the Greek gods have to do with cabins? Like cabins in the woods? On a beach? Or even in a camp?

Percy's face became a little bit less confused. "Ah, I guess I sort of understand now, maybe."

"Are you comparing the Hogwarts houses to ancient Greek gods?" Charlie absentmindedly strode over to her bookshelf and perused the spines of her precious books.

"Yes. Do you know anything about Greek mythology? Anything at all?" Robin was suddenly very keen on drawing information from Charlie about her knowledge of the ancient myths.

Charlie found the book she was looking for – a reasonably sized hardback book, it was beautiful, a green on top to blue on the bottom ombre, with a sketch of Zeus, the god of lightning, on the front along with the title of the book, _Tales of the Greek Mythology,_ written in a pointy stick-like font meant to resemble the Greek alphabet.

Charlie turned to the first page of the book and looked at the message written on the inside of the cover.

 _May Thirteenth - Dear Charlie,_ _  
happy seventh birthday!  
You've grown so much, you're so big now!  
Already in first grade!  
Remember, Daddy is with you and  
he will still be with you even when I'm gone.  
I love you right now and  
I will love you forever,  
\- Mommy._

"I would think I know at least a bit of the stories. My mother liked mythology. She would tell me stories from all different kinds, I really liked the Egyptian mythology, actually. But I forgot a lot about Egyptian mythology over the years. My mother only ever bought me books of Greek mythology, so when she wasn't around to tell me stories anymore, I read the stories, which were all about Greek mythology."

"Is that a book she gave you?" Robin asked. Charlie nodded. "May I see it?"

Charlie hesitated. She really hated it when people touched her things, especially her books, especially books her mother had given her, especially the last one she ever did.

"Be very careful." Charlie gently handed Robin the book. Robin reopened the book back to the first page and read the message; her lips moved and gears turned, but neither made a sound.

Robin studied the message, presumably reading it over and over, the words 'lost in thought' were written all over her face.

"You said Charlie was just a fake name." Robin said this without looking up from the book, her tone rich with absolutely nothing; she said this with the most monotone voice.

"It is just a fake name. Maybe I'll tell you why I chose it... some other time."

Robin adjusted her glasses. "This book was given to you by your mother on your seventh birthday, on May thirteenth, correct?" Robin didn't wait for a response.

"Probably. It says that you were already in first grade at the time, meaning that unless something happened, you would be in seventh grade and thirteen right now, turning fourteen next May.

"You talk about your mother like she's no longer with you, which is what I'm going to assume because it's more likely to be correct than you realize, and if I sound rude for assuming that, I'm sorry. In this message that your mother wrote for you, she says your father will be watching over you even after she is gone, which could either mean that he will physically be there, or metaphorically.

"I think that he is metaphorically with you for a couple of reasons, first, if he was with you and lived with you, he might've also written in the book, or at least signed it, but obviously this isn't a very reliable reason.

"Second, you said you had a half brother, meaning that your mother had another child with someone who is not your father, most likely a stepfather of yours. You obviously have to have some legal guardian.

"When you answered the door you thought we were looking for Kristen, who I assume would probably be a stepsister and not another half sibling due to the fact that you implied that Andrew is younger than you, and Kristen would much obviously be older because two teenagers wouldn't be knocking on your front door asking to speak to a toddler. Also, what I assume would be her bedroom, decorated with giant One Direction posters is right across from here."

Robin looked up.

"What the actual hell," Charlie demanded, "was that? That was some deduction, Ms. Sherlock Holmes, or did you stop by Baker Street and read up on me?"

Robin looked at her with an expression that seed to say, _'one day you'll understand_ ', but also a smile for Charlie's joke, which she seemed to find amusing. she chuckled lightly. "I just connected the dots."

"Connected the dots? Robin, you just connected some dodecahedrons! If fact, there weren't even any dots to connect! I wasn't implying anything, how did you do that?"  
Robin shrugged. "It runs in the family."

Percy looked impressed, he raised his eyebrows and nodded. "Well, Annabeth was right, you are pretty good."

Robin smirked smugly. "Thank you. As I said, it runs in the family, you should know that by now, Percy. You might become part of it in the next eight or so years, you know."

Percy's face turned a deep scarlet. "What are you talking about? We're only seventeen!"

Robin looked at him like he just tracked mud onto her recently washed pristine marble floor, but was too tired to make a detailed angry face. "Did I, or did I not just say 'the next eight years or so'?"

Percy shrugged and mumbled something about how everyone dies alone, unless that was just what Charlie's pessimistic brain tricked itself into hearing. But she swore she heard the words 'early death' somewhere in there. But why?

Robin turned to Charlie. "Dodecahedron?" she mused. Charlie clarified, "twelve sides. It was my mother's favorite shape." Charlie looked distant for a moment. "But mine are circles."

Percy shrugged. "I kind of like triangles, actually."

"I don't like triangles."

"Oh? Why not?"

"I don't know. There are a lot of things I don't like for no apparent reason. Or at least, no reason that I can Identify." Charlie thought for a moment. "What do you dislike?"

Robin and Percy thought for a bit. "Being manipulated," Percy said straightforwardly. "I really don't like being forced to do something that I don't want to."

Charlie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Yeah, that's generally a pretty crappy thing to have happen to you. I don't think anyone likes being manipulated, but whatever. How about you, Robin?"

Robin looked up. She had obviously been slightly zoned out. "Oh, uh, me? I, uh, I don't like ignorant, airheaded, shallow, vain, stupid people."

Charlie didn't really know how to reply to that statement, so she settled for nodding and agreeing silently. Though she really could not agree more.

She anxiously took a deep breath and asked Robin, "Hey, uh, can I, uh, can I please have my book back? Please?"

 _Great,_ Now she probably just seed like some- some… annoying person, or something. What was she thinking? Why did she have to ask for her book back? Why is she so rude all the time?

"Oh, yeah, sure. Here you go," Robin said casually, smiling and handing Charlie her book back. Charlie gratefully took the book from Robin and put it back neatly in its place on the shelf.

As Charlie was walking back to her bed and sitting down, Percy looked at next question on the list. "Who's your fa-favorite mu-musician slash band?" he read with slight difficulty.

" _Imagine Dragons_!" Charlie said enthusiastically. "Oh my- Mine too!" Robin exclaimed, growing more ecstatic by the moment. Charlie and Robin high five once again.

Robin then proceeded to suddenly softly yet loudly sing the chorus to _Radioactive_. Her gentle yet powerful voice washed over Charlie, making her feel like she was melting into a puddle of liquefied human flesh.

Her legs felt like jell-o. Charlie didn't know why Robin's voice made her feel like that. She supposed it was probably because she would never be as a talented singer as Robin, and she was actually just feeling sad about it. She could never feel confident enough to do something like that. _Sing_. _For_ people. Who would be able to _hear_ her. Gosh, if Charlie ever tried to sing, she would sound like a dying hyena.

Percy grinned gleefully, as did Charlie. Robin must have realized that no one was joining her, assuming Percy knew the song, and her face flushed furiously, Charlie realized as Robin began to gradually grow quieter, her voice faltering.

Charlie didn't want to make Robin feel embarrassed, and she was already almost done with the second verse, which she had started after she finished the chorus, skipping the first verse completely. So when she was slowly coming to the end of the second verse, not intending to start the chorus again, Charlie did it instead of her.

Just as Robin ended with the second verse, Charlie started belting out the words to the chorus in a comically terrible voice, even worse than her own normal singing voice.

She purposely made her voice crack every few seconds, singing completely off key, using a high pitched tone at the points where using a high pitched tone would be most unnecessary, all in an effort to make Robin feel better, whilst making sure that they knew she doing it on purpose, so they wouldn't think her vocals were actually that awful.

Percy grinned even wider, and Robin started laughing, the dusted rosy color on her cheeks disappearing completely within seconds.

Charlie felt great. Her heart was pounding, but she could see Percy and Robin's brilliant smiles as they laughed with her. She thought about adding some ridiculous dance moves to the mix when a little voice in her head told her that they were not in fact laughing with her, they were laughing at her, and at her only.

Her face felt suddenly hot as a blush crept its way onto her cheeks. The little voice in her head drowned out any other sounds, and she could only hear the voice inside.

Her smile started to fade, but she quickly replaced it with another smile, a fake one, as she abruptly stopped singing at the end of the chorus.

Why does she have to ruin everything she has? Why did she have to go on and embarrass herself completely? Why was she always so stupid? Every time, all the time, and for all time.

Robin was still laughing, she leaned over herself to grab her stomach, which was undoubtedly causing her pain due to laughing too much. Clutching her stomach, Robin let out another laugh, causing her to falter. She let out a mild yelp as she fell forwards, rolling onto the floor.

She rolled over and let out another small laugh, she didn't seem to be in any pain, Charlie observed.

 _She is probably just hiding her pain from you_ , the little voice inside Charlie's mind told her. _She thinks you're so useless that it was so funny, that she fell over. She's just hiding her pain because she doesn't want you to try and help her up. Who would want to touch a disgusting person like you? You bite your nails, have you ever looked at them without the intention of biting them off? They're revolting!_

Charlie quickly panicked. What is she supposed to do? Does she help her up? But Robin probably doesn't want to touch her gross hands. But if she doesn't help her up, she'll seem extremely rude.

Before Charlie could find an answer to her dilemma, Percy had helped Robin up, and they stood, grinning. They looked at Charlie and they're grins melted off their faces, leaving concerned frowns in their places.

"What's the matter?" Percy asked. Charlie realized that she had a look of horror on her face, and promptly discarded it.

"Oh, nothing. Just, you know, thinking." _Great save, Charlie. Wow. Amazing_. Charlie cleared her throat. "So, Percy, what musicians or bands do you like? Who's your favorite?"  
Percy shrugged. "Annabeth and I like to listen to Led Zeppelin in the car sometimes."

Charlie was going to make a sarcastic remark like, ' _I've literally never heard that name in my life_ ', or, ' _Fascinating_ ', but wisely decided against it.

"Okay, Percy. No one cares. Next question." Robin was grinning. She had a gleam in her eyes.

"If you could take a vacation anywhere for free, where would you go?" Percy read. He smiled to himself and without a moment's hesitation said, "Montauk."

Robin thought for a moment, she looked Percy dead in the eye and said, "Rome." Percy looked right back at her, but didn't say anything. Robin looked to Charlie. "The history is interesting," she said.

Charlie nodded. "I've only really been out of the country twice, once to Greece, and then once to Italy. When we were in Greece, I don't know where we were staying, but it was right by the beach, though. That is very helpful information, we all know how little beaches Greece has," she added sarcastically.

"We made plans to take some sort of tour bus to Athens, and I was really excited about it, but my older sister really didn't want to go, so we didn't in the end.

"When we were in Italy, I remember exactly everywhere we were. We flew to Frankfurt, Germany, first, and then took another flight to Milan. From Milan we went to Florence, then Venice, then Lake Garda. Then from a different airport in Milan, we flew to Zürich, Switzerland, then took another flight back home.

"The entire time we were in Italy, I couldn't get over the fact that we weren't going to be visiting Rome, or even The Vatican. I was really hoping we could find the time. I mean, my mother even grew up in Rome for a few years.

"All the museums everywhere else were all about Jesus and stuff, but I wanted to see Roman mythology! They're bound to have museums dedicated just to Roman mythology in Rome!"

Charlie stopped. She shifted awkwardly. "Sorry, I ramble a lot. My mother would call me such a chatterbox. But, um, anyway, I guess, in conclusion, I would also like to visit Rome. Yeah…"

"Your mother grew up in Rome? Is she Italian?" Percy asked. Charlie was slightly taken aback by his casual tone. Usually, no one really paid attention to what she was saying, and then just waited for her to stop talking so they could talk more about themselves, but Percy and Robin seemed to be genuinely listening to her.

 _Gosh, Charlie. You are such a hypocrite. You've been rambling about yourself this entire time, when obviously no one cares an ounce about anything you have to say, and then you complain about people who only talk about themselves? At least their lives are far more interesting than yours. Who wants to go to one of the most beautiful cities in the world so they can visit a goddamn museum? Get a life._

Charlie grunted and grabbed her head in her hands, rubbing her temples. _I'm sorry,_ she thought, apparently trying to telepathically apologize to her guests, _I didn't mean to._ She bit her lip in frustration.

"Are… are you alright?" Robin asked, suddenly wary and alert.

Charlie cleared her throat and tried for a smile, nodding vigorously. "Yeah. Totally. I'm completely fine. Don't… don't worry about me. What were you saying, Percy?"

"Well, I was just asking if your mother was Italian, sense she grew up in Rome, but, I guess she wasn't…?"

Charlie shook her head. "Yeah, no… she wasn't Italian. But she did speak Italian. She grew up all around the world. Some of her siblings were born here, others were born all over the place. My grandfather had all sorts of jobs that would take him to all kinds of countries, even before any of her older siblings were born."

"Your mother had siblings?" Robin asked.

"Oh, yes. She had four. Two older, two younger. My oldest uncle, he died, actually. There really isn't another way to say it. I wasn't very close to him, but he was fun, but he was also old.

"Then there's my aunt. She's a nurse, she works with prematurely born infants. She Lives in Maryland. She's been really depressed since my uncle- her husband, died of Brain Cancer. I haven't seen her in a long time, sense she doesn't really have a reason to visit."

Charlie paused. "She and my mother had exactly identical laughs… I haven't heard either of them laugh in a while."

 _Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid, Charlie. Who do you think you are? William Shakespeare? Edgar Allan Poe? Some other poet? You sound like a cringe-worthy wannabe poet who writes about angst and pain and suffering._ _"I haven't heard either of them laugh in a while." What even is that?_

Charlie glanced at her wall, where five sheets of paper with poems printed on them hung. With all the papers combined, she had eleven poems hanging in her room. Three of them were her own original works. Three more original, handwritten pieces lay in a shoebox, one of the many shoeboxes in her collection of shoeboxes, in fact. The extra storage really makes a difference.

Anyway, some of the poems were different, others had similarities, but they all had some things in common. They were all super depressing and kind of dark.

Charlie felt somewhat proud of her pieces; she thinks they're not too bad. But she was ashamed to admit to herself that those categories in poetry are what she chooses to write about. And even worse, what she isn't too bad at writing.

Charlie always wondered how authors and poets could come up with such magnificent tales, but since then she's stopped wondering how they could also come up with such dark, miserable tales.

Charlie had always wondered why it is so difficult for victims of crime, abuse, violence, or depression to admit to people what they had gone through, or still do go through.

It's because first you have to admit it to yourself. If you come to the conclusion that it isn't that bad, or, you're not really depressed, or it's all just in your head, or that you're overreacting, you're not going to tell people about the problem, because you don't think you have one.

 _Why would you tell someone about your_ blank _if you don't even have_ blank _? That's lying. You're just looking for attention. You're just fishing for compliments and gifts. You're a terrible person. You deserve to truly go through what you're lying about. Because you_ are _lying._

And then, of course, there's being known as the ' _The Person With That Thing That Is Definitely A Big Problem That Everyone Should Go And Comfort Immediately, Because That's Definitely What They Need Right Now_ ' person.

Or alternatively, the ' _The Lying Attention Seeking, Compliment Fishing, Gift Craving Person Who Is Offensive Towards People Who Actually Have That Problem_ ' person.

Charlie was nearly at the end of her Denial Phase. She was also zoned out. Completely.

"Charlie!" Percy snapped his fingers in front of her face again, and Charlie snapped to attention, impulsively grabbing Percy's wrist from in front of her eyes and twisting it, pinning it down on the floor beside her.  
Percy yelped, Robin stared in shock, Charlie blinked. She hastily let go of Percy's wrist and apologized profusely. Percy examined his wrist, and smiled, rubbing it a little.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it. You have good instincts. It's fine," he said again. "I'm fine."

Charlie sighed at her own sheer idiocy. She smiled back at Percy, hiding the fact that she wanted to shed a few tears of frustration.

"Sorry," she apologized again. "Where were we? I'm so sorry, I forgot."

Robin nodded understandingly, smiling a little. A small gleam passed over her hazel eyes for a moment before disappearing as she replied to Charlie. "You were telling us about your aunts and uncles."

Charlie mentally face-palmed. She had rambled again. They asked the simple question of "Your mother has siblings?" and received a worthless, unnecessarily long rant about her aunts and uncles that conveyed no valuable information whatsoever.

 _What's wrong with just 'yes'?_

"Sorry for rambling again. I didn't mean to. Sorry." Charlie was surprised when Robin insisted she continue, as if learning useless information about a random person she's probably never going to see again fascinated her.

Charlie hesitated. Robin seemed to genuinely want to learn information about Charlie, even if the facts only indirectly related to her. So she decided to tell them a secret.

"Well, after my aunt, there was my mother, but… there was another sibling. Another sister." Charlie hesitated a second time. But it was already too late to withhold the story from them.

"Before my mother was born, they were three children, not two. I had another aunt. I never knew she existed until my mother directly told me. She said that she had another sister, who died before she was born.

"When I asked my mother how she had died… she only said four words: " _She trusted a stranger_ " and then she left the conversation there. And she never mentioned her again. I don't even know what her name was."

No one said a word for a few long, dreadful moments. Charlie couldn't stand the silence. It was worse than a loud, high pitched speaker or microphone malfunction. Charlie also didn't want to be the one to break it. She had rendered herself speechless. Thankfully, she didn't have to be the one to break the silence; Percy did it of his own free will.

"That's… That's absolutely horrible."

Charlie was looking down at the floor. "Yes. It is. My mother was really big on safety around strangers. I could have ended up like my aunt if it weren't for her continuous reminders to be careful."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Percy asked, startled. Charlie sighed. She shouldn't have said anything at all. She took a deep breath.

"One time, in second grade, I was leaving school, and a woman came up to me and asked me if I was from class B1. And I kind of slowly nodded. So she told me that she was sent to pick me up."

Charlie paused. Percy was listening intently, while Robin, who had been looking at nothing but the floor since their moment of silence, had suddenly looked up and fixed her gaze on Charlie.

Charlie cleared her already-cleared throat. "My mother had told me to never get into a car with a stranger unless she or my stepfather directly told me to, over the phone, or in person.

"I didn't say anything for a long time, and just stood there. So she started telling me that she's the mother of one of the kids in my class, and my parents sent her to get me, because they were busy. In case she was telling the truth, I didn't want to just run away. So I kept asking her who exactly sent her, but she kept saying it was a surprise.

"But I kept telling her that I was just going to leave if she didn't tell me, so then she didn't say anything, but I could see on her face how frustrated and upset she was getting. I got really scared that she would just pick me up and shove me into her car, but luckily that didn't happen.

"She made herself look all overly cheerful and composed again and said, ' _It'll ruin the surprise, but okay. Your mommy sent me. She's too busy preparing you a surprise party for you and your friends, because she loves you so much_ " or something along those lines, I can't exactly remember."

Robin took a shaky breath, but didn't exhale.

"So… so then I just stood there for a moment. And then I kicked her in the shin as hard as I could and kind of just said, ' _if my mother loves me so much, she wouldn't send a kidnapper to kidnap me, and she wouldn't be able to do that even if she hated me, because she died last year_!" at her.

"She ran away quickly after that. She got into her car and drove away. I would have memorized the license plate digits of her car, but it moved so fast, and it was so far away, and dyslexia is the worst. I don't even remember anything about her. I can't remember what she looked like, what she sounded like, what she was wearing, nothing."

There was another stretch of agonizingly long silence before Percy murmured an unintelligible sort of condolence. Charlie didn't react.

Robin was the next to make a sound, and the first to make a sound that Charlie could understand. "You're cynical," she stated, not a trace of doubt in her voice.

Charlie's gaze wandered over and settled on Robin's framed eyes. She didn't say anything, she didn't move, she didn't know what to make of this statement. Was it irrelevant? Was it a crucial fact essential for some unknown purpose? Was she missing something?

Percy frowned at Robin. "And that is important information because…?"

"Charlie," Robin said quieter now, softer, "if the Harry Potter world were real, meaning that you didn't know that it exists, and someone came up to you and told you that you're a witch, would you believe them?"

Charlie hesitated. "I… I… maybe… I…" Charlie sighed. "N- No… I don't think I would… at all..."

Robin nodded and looked at Percy, who mouthed a long, silent _oh_.

Robin stood up, Percy followed suit. "I'm afraid we must be off. But first, do you have some paper and a pen?"

Charlie stood up, too. "I am actually out of paper, but I do have a pen."

"Get the pen, please."

Charlie hurried to her desk and grabbed a pen from her mug of writing utensils. She turned back to Percy and Robin. She handed Robin the pen.

"Can I have your arm?" Robin asked.

"What?"

"Your arm, Charlie."

Slowly, Charlie held out her arm. Robin grasped her wrist and wrote down an address on the inside of her forearm.

"Write this down somewhere where you can see it again when you get the chance. If it washes off, we may never see each other again. You can't lose this address."

Charlie glanced at Percy. He looked a little miffed that he didn't seem to be doing anything worthwhile.

"We should leave now," Percy said quickly, maybe before Robin got the chance.

Percy started walking out the door and down the stairs, Robin followed, so did Charlie. They reached the front door; Charlie opened the door and held it open for the guests. They said their farewells and started walking down the street.

Charlie wondered where these mysterious strangers, nay, acquaintances, nay, friends, had come from, and where they were going…? She may never know if that address washes off her arm. Charlie looked at it and sighed. She really wanted to meet them again.

* * *

 **Hello, readers!**

 **You may have noticed that I didn't exactly keep my promise for weekly updates, but I assure you, what happened this week is a one time thing only.**

 **I've just been super busy with some stuff, and I'm a ridiculously lazy ass, so I procrastinated for an entire week, just did a total of a third of the stuff I needed to do, and realized I haven't updated.**

 **I'm using my phone right now, I'm on the website on Desktop mode, so if you see any mistakes in the chapter please go easy on the criticism, I'm a weak human.**

 **I may be slightly late again next week, I might even be very late, but I have a very good reason that I just am not able to tell you.**

 **I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive my poor soul, I bet you've even forgiven Uncle Rick for everything he's done, so this should be a piece of cake.**

 **Anyway, this note is getting really long, so I'm gonna go now. Bye!**

 ** _\- Pandemonium_**


	5. Chapter 5: The Long Ride

**Warning: Contains mentions of depression, self-harm, suicide, domestic emotional and verbal abuse. (I may need to add more warnings when it seems necessary or I have decided to add another element to the story that requires a warning.)**

 **\- WARNING - THIS NEXT WARNING CONTAINS A SPOILER -**

 **Spoiling warning: LGBTQ+ characters. (If you have a problem with that, I advise you to leave, before all of Nico's self-proclaimed spouses, parents, and siblings come after you [AKA me].)**

* * *

 **All's Fair in Love and War by**

 ** _Pandemonium K_**

 **Chapter Five: The Long Ride**

* * *

"What is this?" Derek yelled, slamming the History Test onto the coffee table. "I thought you've been studying!"

"I have!" Charlie insisted. "I really have! It's not even that bad a grade!"

Derek looked Charlie in the eye and said, deadly quiet, "What did you just say to me?"

"Nothing," Charlie mumbled, almost inaudibly.

Derek stood up, screamed, "Tell me what you just said!" He wiped chicken gravy from his hand onto the napkin that was hanging from his collar. He ripped it away, crumpled it up, and dropped it onto the coffee table.

"I said it wasn't that bad a grade!" Charlie screamed back. Derek inhaled loudly through his nose, his eyes widening.

"It is most certainly a terrible grade for a terrible daughter! How are you ever supposed to get a job and a life when you act like a child? You're a little idiot. I don't even know what I was expecting from you. Every time I get my hopes up that _maybe_ for once you won't act so despicable, and you let me down!" Derek yelled, spitting wildly.

"Kristen got a sixty four in Language Class last week! I saw the test! Kiddo was eating it!"

"You are not Kristen! Kristen is older and has harder study material. Don't compare yourself to her."

"But-!"

"No buts! Get out of here! Go to your room, or go outside. Just leave!"

Charlie screeched and stormed upstairs, she heard Andrew snickering from the bottom of the stairs, she turned around, smacked him upside the head, and stormed back to her room.

"Dad!" Andrew wailed.

"No dinner tonight, Charlie!" Derek yelled up the stairs, and continued to eat his chicken.

Charlie's bedroom door flew open; she marched inside, grabbed her backpack, put on her shoes, then marched right back out.

She stomped down the stairs as loudly as she could, and entered the kitchen. Charlie opened the cereal cabinet, moved some cereal boxes around, and found her secret baggie of cheerios.

She stuffed the cheerios into her backpack, ran to the door, and made her way out. She slammed the door behind herself, shutting her eyes tightly, as to not let any tears escape.

She took a deep breath, and started walking down the street. She aggressively hummed the tune of _My Fault_ as she walked, trying to calm herself down. Every time she passed someone, she stopped humming until they were out of earshot. _Even while humming I sound terrible,_ she thought to herself.

She walked with her head down, avoiding any eye contact with other pedestrians as she wandered to nowhere in particular. She came to a crosswalk and looked both ways. A large silver car that looked relatively new was coming up. It slowed down slightly as it approached the crosswalk, but Charlie wasn't sure it was actually stopping.

She tensed as she watched the car come closer. Her face felt hot as she made eye contact with the driver for a split second. A split second in which Charlie noticed the anger on the driver's face. The driver, a woman who looked to be in her forties, with short brown hair and bright red lipstick, angrily waved her hand, motioning to Charlie to cross the street already.

Before the woman even stopped her car, still just driving slowly towards the crosswalk, Charlie ran across the street with her head down, her heart raced, and she heard the car's engine as it zoomed past her, now at high speed.

Charlie shifted awkwardly, standing still on the other side of the crosswalk. She felt bad. What would that random woman think of her now? Even crossing the street, one of the simplest of the simplest tasks, had made Charlie feel like a fool.

Charlie took a deep breath and trudged onwards. The weight of her upper body felt heavy on her legs, which felt like they had suddenly turned to gelatin.

She looked around for any park benches, but she couldn't spot any. The closest thing she could find was the bench of a bus stop. Charlie shrugged to herself. She'd always intended to try something like this before, take a bus and let the driver lead her away from her problems, not know where she's going, not know when she's coming back.

She walked over to the bus stop and immediately analyzed the situation. Sitting on the bench were an old woman and a young girl who looked about five, probably the woman's granddaughter, and boy with curly blond hair, and a blue hat, who looked about her own age.

With slight difficulty, Charlie recognized the boy as Harvey Tall, a boy she has known since first grade as a heavenly angel sent from heaven to bless adults, but a hellish demon sent from hell to curse any females of his age or younger with tormenting pranks, teasing, and bullying.

Charlie was about to turn around and walk away to find a place near the bus stop where she could sit peacefully, alone, but still be able to see when a bus is coming, when Harvey looked up from his cell-phone and gave her a sly smile.

Charlie shot him a look of disgust and he chuckled. His eyes flickered back down to his phone for a nanosecond before he looked back up and gazed at something behind Charlie, his smile instantly vanished, and was instead replaced with a glare and a look of loathing.

"Granny, look!" the little girl said excitedly to who Charlie correctly guessed was her grandmother. The little girl was pointing to across the street, to where Harvey was also looking.

Curiosity overtook Charlie and she turned around and saw what the commotion was about. Two boys who looked to be about eighteen or less were standing across the street in a tight embrace. The shorter guy, dark skinned with dark hair in dreadlocks, stood up on his toes, bringing his face closer to the taller guy's.

The taller one, pale skinned with pale blond hair, still with his arms around the shorter guy's waist, lifted him up off his feet. The shorter guy yelped, then he laughed and gave the other a kiss on the cheek.

"Granny, look! He kissed him on the cheek." The little girl giggled. "That's silly. Two boys kissing. Very silly." She giggled again.

The girl's grandmother smiled, obviously amused. "Why is it silly, Love? Why is it silly that two boys love each other? Or two girls?"

The little girl pursed her lips and sat down on the sidewalk. "I don't know, Granny. I've never seen two boys kiss before. But I've seen Sofia and her best friend Darcy kiss all the time, but they said not to tell anyone." The little girl's voice trailed off, she looked down at the bricks that make out the sidewalk and started picking at pebbles. "Oops. Don't tell Sofia that I told you, she will kill me, Granny." The girl added in a whisper.

The grandmother's eyes sparkled as she looked down at her granddaughter as if she were more than all the gold and diamonds of the earth, sitting in a pile at her feet. "I'll talk to your sister. It's the kissing part _I'm_ concerned about. Frankly, I don't care _who_ she's kissing, but I don't want her kissing anyone just yet."

The little girl grinned widely and looked up at her grandmother. "I don't know what 'frankly' means, Granny." The grandmother laughed, she picked up the girl and set her down on her lap. She began to explain to her granddaughter the definition of the word 'frankly'. Charlie stopped listening there.

Charlie's heart fluttered with joy. Seeing an old woman who probably comes from times of hate and refusal towards people who are different from oneself stand up for them without a moment's hesitation was something Charlie wished she could see every day all over again.

But suddenly Charlie felt something else. She felt bad. She felt upset. She felt mad. She felt mad at herself for going about eavesdropping on people's conversations and then feeling happy or sad about something that has nothing to do with her, then go about and completely ignore the fact that she just did a bad thing.

What if she would have heard something bad about a person? Something that would be a cause of judgment? Who is she to judge someone she wouldn't even know the name of?

Charlie mentally slapped herself. Pulling herself together, Charlie was, again, about to go find a secluded spot to sit and wait for the first bus that arrives when she saw it coming. The first bus.

Such luck never finds its way to Charlie. Only needing to wait so little time was practically a God-given blessing to her.

Charlie fished her wallet out of the small pocket in her backpack, she took out her bus card and waited on the curb for the bus to pull up. The bus stopped in front of her and the doors opened.

With her head down, Charlie stepped onto the bus. No one from the stop joined her. Charlie scanned her card on the machine, and her receipt printed not a moment later, indicating that Charlie's card was now about a dollar less full.

Charlie turned towards the aisle, a look of terror settled on her face as a horrifying realization struck her; the entire bus was full except for two seats.

Charlie gulped and took a step, intending to take another, as the bus lurched forward and Charlie was pushed off her feet. She fell forwards, her knees landed painfully on the edge of the first stair, her wallet and bus card were knocked out of her hands, but worst of all, she looked up and spotted the movement of a few heads abruptly look in the opposite direction.

Charlie became stressed within a mere second, breathing heavily and trying to ignore the pain in her knees, she fumbled around, trying to pick up her wallet and card. It took a moment, but soon she was hurriedly making her way up the aisle to the two empty seats with all of her belongings and what was remaining of her dignity.

She sat down and took a deep breath. She felt a panic attack come and go, and soon she was breathing normally and her heart had returned to a steadier pace.

She fished a pair of headphones and Kristen's old MP3 out of her backpack, also returning her bus card to her wallet and her wallet to her bag. Charlie put on the headphones and played the first song that came up. _Bohemian Rhapsody_ , if you were wondering.

By the time the six minute song had ended, seven people went off the bus and two came on. One of the two who came on the bus was a slim teenage girl with frizzy red hair, an over-sized blue shirt, and jeans with holes in them that Charlie was pretty sure weren't part of the design.

Despite the fact that by then there were quite a few empty seats available, the girl walked right up to Charlie and tapped on her shoulder.

Charlie flinched as soon as the girl's finger made contact with her shoulder. She shuddered and pulled off her headphones, trying to hide her discomfort.

When Charlie looked up at the girl's face, the first thing she noticed was the girl's bright green eyes and freckles. Eyes so green that they reminded Charlie of the green part of her book about Greek mythology, the green and blue one that her mother had given her. Her freckles looked like what it would look like if someone had liquid droplets of Sun sprayed onto their face.

The bright red/bright green hair/eye combination reminded Charlie of what a child of Harry Potter and Ginny Weasley might look like.

"Can I sit here?" She asked, snapping Charlie out of her thoughts. Charlie looked down and nodded, she took her bag from the seat beside her and pulled it close, clutching it against herself and holding on to it like her life depended on it.

Charlie shrunk back as the girl sat down in the seat beside her. She grunted uncomfortably and stood back up as if she had sat on something, but Charlie saw that the seat was still empty.

The girl pulled something out of her pocket and sat back down; she tapped the object against her thigh. At first Charlie couldn't tell what it was, but then she realized it was actually a blue plastic hairbrush.

The reason why the girl might carry a blue plastic hairbrush around with her was beyond Charlie, but she wasn't one to judge. Charlie was often teased for carrying around a book everywhere she went, or her Idea Journal and an overflowing pencil case. In fact, her journal, pencil case, and book were all in her bag, along with some other things.

Charlie was slightly annoyed that the girl decided to sit next to Charlie, of all places, but the girl's slim build wasn't wide enough to accidentally bump shoulders with Charlie, even after she had stopped cowering against the window, scared to accidentally make contact with the girl or be forced to start a conversation with her.

It was a long ride to nowhere, but when the speaker on the bus announced the next stop, the only reason Charlie was able to hear it over her own thoughts and the music in her ears, was because it had announced one very specific place, with a very specific name.

Charlie ripped the headphones off of her head. She flipped her backpack so it was facing her and unzipped the small compartment in the front. She rummaged inside for a moment, pushing aside her wallet, keys, EpiPen, an old packet of chewing gum that rattled when it moved, some sort of fidgeting toy that resembled a keychain, and chapstick, until she found what she was looking for.

Charlie unfolded the small piece of paper. On it, an address:

 _Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill,_

 _Farm Road 3.141_

 _Long Island, New York 11954_

 _Delphi Strawberry Services (DSS)_

Charlie was astounded at her luck, because the only part of the monotonic announcement that Charlie had heard, was the ever specific, " _Half-Blood_ ", and looking out the window, she could see a lone bus stop at the side of the middle-of-nowhere road, and a hill behind it.

* * *

 **Hello, readers!**

 **So, that was chapter five, I hoped you liked it.**

 **It may seem that I was a little late with this chapter, but in reality I'm just updating every Thursday now. I don't live _anywhere_ near the USA, in fact, I'm about seven hours ahead of Washington D.C. and ten hours ahead of Los Angeles, so I may be, 'early', sometimes.**

 **If any of you readers have Anxiety, please let me know. I have Social Anxiety, and I want to make Charlie as relatable as possible, and I've realized that a lot more people than I thought have Anxiety.**

 **I give Charlie my view of an anxiety inducing world, but it's different for everyone. So if you think I've done a great job at describing anxiety, it's because I have anxiety :/, but if you think I'm doing a good job in other aspects of writing as well, please let me know. I would love to hear what you think.**

 **If you feel like I'm not doing the best job, you can also leave some constructive criticism in the reviews, or Private Message me if you feel like doing that.**

 **Anyway, again, I hope you enjoyed. If you did, be sure to review, favorite and/or follow either me or the story, and hopefully you'll be back for the next chapter. Bye!**

 ** _\- Pandemonium_**


	6. Chapter 6: Half-Blood Hill

**_Warning_** **: Contains mentions of depression, self-harm, domestic emotional and verbal abuse, murder.**

 ** _Author's note_** **: When I say mentions, I mean _mentions._ Some of the topics I just stated in the warnings are way too complex and controversial for me to even know how to write about them.**

 **Maybe at some point one or two of the topics will be just a bit more than mentions, but in chapters like that I would warn you that there would be more than just mentions of sensitive topics.**

 **I may need to add more warnings when it seems necessary or I have decided to add another element to the story that requires a warning.**

 **\- WARNING - THIS NEXT WARNING CONTAINS A SPOILER -**

 ** _Spoiling warning_** **: Contains LGBTQ+ characters. (If you have a problem with that, I advise you to leave, before all of Nico's self-proclaimed spouses, parents, and siblings come after you [AKA me].)**

* * *

 **All's Fair in Love and War**

 ** _Pandemonium King_**

 **Chapter Six: Half-Blood Hill**

* * *

Charlie stepped off the bus and looked up at the sky. The sun blazed overhead, and Charlie could already feel the sweat on the back of her neck start to bleed out of her skin and soak into her sweater. Charlie's gaze wandered downwards, and fixed on the back of the red haired girl's head.

The girl had wasted no time, as soon as she had gotten off of the stuffy bus, she started walking right up the hill. Charlie could see the beginnings of a gravelly path start to form somewhere higher up on the elevated sector of land.

Charlie could already see the redhead start to disappear behind the lone trees, sparse bushes, and clusters of reedy plants that when combined, created a pretty solid scheme of camouflage and dense bunches of green to hide behind.

When she realized this, Charlie made a split second decision to follow the girl.

As slowly and as silently as she could, Charlie stole after the girl. She kept a safe distance away from her, but even when Charlie accidentally made a loud noise that was bound to draw the redhead's attention, she still did not turn around or even falter.

Charlie was good at sneaking around quietly, she even prided herself in it (sort of, it _is_ kind of a suspicious talent), but she's never done it in such natural settings. Charlie had made at least three loud noises - that were definitely within the redhead's earshot (she did not once react to any of them) - before she got the gist of it and knew how to avoid it.

It was almost too late when Charlie saw the huge Pine tree. The path had snaked around a bush and disappeared, as in, the path itself, not the view of the path. The border between normal grass and the path's gravel blurred, and the path stopped there.

Charlie stopped and crouched behind the bush. Steadily, she stuck her head over the bush and peered in all directions before she spotted the redhead sit down and lean against the Pine, crossing her arms over her chest and closing her eyes.

Seeing as the redhead wasn't doing anything particularly noteworthy at that moment, Charlie took a minute to herself to carefully look everywhere for a second time, which was a good idea, because in that moment she noticed a few things.

Firstly, a glint of gold had immediately caught Charlie's eye. Upon closer inspection, Charlie had realized it was a fleece. An actual golden fleece, hanging from the branches of the Pine tree. Charlie wondered why anyone would paint a fleece golden and then hang it on a tree.

Secondly, around the Pine tree was a large patch of dirt. There was a fine line between the grass and the bare, dusty, almost hard looking earth that surrounded the tree. Charlie didn't know what had caused the patch, but she could only guess that an extremely heavy object usually dwells around the tree, and was preventing any flora from growing. _Possibly an animal_ , Charlie thought to herself, but then she shook off that thought. No animal could possibly be that big.

Thirdly, they were right at the crest of the hill, but from the angle in which Charlie was looking around, she could not see the slightest bit of what might be in the valley.

Fourthly, as they abruptly stopped, the sounds of their movement stopped as well. No more shuffling, or shoes scuffing against gravel, or the occasional grunt of effort on the redheaded girl's end as she made her way up the somewhat steep hill. (Charlie had tried as best she could to be as silent as she possibly could, she wasn't going to come out and grunt loudly.)

And now, in the silence, Charlie could faintly hear the most peculiar variety of sounds coming from the valley. Children shrieking as they were undoubtedly playing, screaming and yelling and fighting, laughs and giggles. The sounds of metal clanging, sounds of running, sounds of music.

Charlie badly wanted to know what was in the valley, and it occurred to her that maybe that was not a good thing. She didn't know what was down there. For all she knew, it could be the capital of a satanic cult.

She was starting to think that maybe getting onto that bus, getting off at that stop, and following that girl had all been very bad ideas.

Charlie's heart raced as she started waddling backwards, still in a crouching position, trying to get away from the redheaded girl that she had so recklessly decided to follow.

"I know you're still here. You didn't get very far yet, did you?" the redheaded girl suddenly spoke. Charlie later scolded herself this, but in fact, the first thing she noticed was the girl's voice.

Charlie could always appreciate a nice singing voice, but for some reason, she could even more so appreciate a pleasant speaking voice. She usually thought to herself that if she were to be forced to listen to a sound instead of enjoying a nice silence, the sound should at least be pleasant. Charlie was weird that way.

In case you were wondering, the redhead had a lovely voice. Images of the redhead's face swam in Charlie's mind as she replayed the redhead's words in her head. Her cheeks felt somewhat warm as she all but slapped herself in the temple for thinking about something so irrelevant at such an inappropriate time.

Charlie had just realized that she had gone completely still, not daring to move a muscle, when the girl spoke again. "You don't have to run. Don't worry; we're not a satanic cult. I know that's what you were thinking."

Charlie smirked to herself. She would have asked if- "No. You are the only one who has ever thought that."

Charlie wondered if- "No, I can't read minds."

Never mind.

"You really shouldn't go."

Well, that settled it. Charlie wasn't going to take orders from a stranger. She was about to continue scurrying off (still in a crouching position, though) when the redhead finally got her utmost attention.

"This is the place that the address is referring to. Percy is here. Percy Jackson."

Charlie immediately stood up. Her back still faced the redhead, but it was progress.

"Oh, now I've got your attention, do I? Well, what if I told you that the girl is here, too?"

Almost against her own will, Charlie blurted out, "Robin Keller." She gritted her teeth and growled almost inaudibly under her breath. Frankly, she was mad at herself for having remembered Robin's name but not anyone else on the face of the earth's name.

"You want to see her, don't you?" Charlie saw an image of the redhead casually inspecting her nails as she nonchalantly gave Charlie a life-death dilemma to solve as she sat against the tree behind her in her mind.

Charlie turned around to face the other girl, but she had pulled her large hood over her head and looked at the ground, hoping her face was well hidden by the fabric of her sweater. "Maybe."

"Then come over here, Charlie." Before Charlie could express her surprise at the redhead's unexpected awareness of her pseudonym, she continued talking. "Yes, yes. I know your pseudonym."

Charlie felt her throat constrict, she choked on her own words as she barely managed to get out a quiet and desperate "How?"

The fiery-haired girl smiled playfully, her eyes twinkled. Ignoring Charlie's question, she asked, "Why don't you use your real name?"

She hesitated before answering. "Charlie is a name my mother gave me." Charlie paused. She hesitated, not sure if passing on such information was worth it. She eventually decided it was. "A nickname. She said it was my father's name. Well, that's what she called him. His real name was Charles."

Charlie shook her head and scoffed. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this. Why should I trust you? I don't even know your name."

The redhead was still smiling in such a genuine manner that Charlie had almost forgotten what such sincere kindness looked like, but she now remembered.

The redhead stood up. She brushed herself off and looked up at Charlie's obscured face. She took one step, then another, and stopped in front of Charlie.

"Well, I don't know yours, either."

Charlie flinched away from the redhead, who was standing too close for Charlie's comfort. She started fidgeting with her own fingers, pulling on them so hard that they turned white, as if they were about to be ripped off.

Charlie took a step back, not taking her eyes off the ground in front of her, hoping the redhead would not catch a glimpse of her face.

"My name is Rachel Elizabeth Dare," the fiery-haired girl, _Rachel_ , said.

Extremely uncomfortable and at a loss for words, the only thing Charlie could muster was, "Dare? Like Dare Enterprises?"

Charlie wasn't exactly looking, but she could tell that Rachel was giving her a wry smile. "Exactly like Dare Enterprises." She then frowned. "I can tell that you despise my dad's company. Well, so do I. He even makes me go to a girls' boarding academy. Now, honestly, isn't that _such_ a 'rich dad' cliché thing to do?"

Charlie managed a chuckle. "Nice to meet you, Rachel Elizabeth Dare."

Rachel grinned. "Ditto." Rachel's grin evaporated, and she sighed. "You still don't trust me, do you?"

Charlie, too, let her smile, as small as it was, fall away. "Not in the slightest."

Rachel crossed her arms. "Would you believe me if I told you what those noises are? If you got to see?"

Charlie mimicked Rachel's body language and also crossed her arms. "That depends. You know it depends."

"Because those noises could be the sound of child labor? Torture? Murder? Trafficking? I mean, what else could the sounds of laughing children possibly mean?"

Charlie eyed Rachel from under her hood, amused. "I like your sense of humor. Dark. Just like mine. Very entertaining. But I'll have you know, that one time there was this guy who dressed up in a Barney costume, kidnapped children, and forced them to be happy. If he saw a child that wasn't smiling…" Charlie paused for a dramatic effect, "he killed them. So really this could also be a situation like that."

"Ha, well, I'm not the one with the dark humor. I know that you are, and that's why I'm being kind of dark. I think I'm going to vomit, actually. That's horrifying."

Charlie gritted her teeth and grimaced. No one ever appreciated her dark humor; they _always_ thought it was so disgusting. Charlie hated it. "Oh."

"I have a friend, his name is Nico. You two will get along great."

Charlie narrowed her eyes. "Will? What do you mean, _will?_ Who says I'm going to meet him?"

Rachel smiled again. "I do. Now, if you want to know what those noises are, you'll have to take a look at the valley."

"It's just a strawberry farm. There's nothing there."

"Except," Rachel raised a finger and hummed, "apparently, a cult of purple dinosaurs that force children to be happy at all times."

Charlie grunted and pushed past Rachel. She stood at the crest and looked down at the valley.

There was nothing there but lots of strawberry bushes.

Without Charlie having to say anything, Rachel told Charlie, "Look again."

Charlie continued looking down at the valley. Then, as if her eyes were getting used to a darkness, suddenly being able to make out various things, like a chair, or a desk, you know, things you see in a bedroom, Charlie could all of a sudden see a camp spread out beneath her.

Camp Half-Blood.

* * *

 **Hello, readers!**

 **I'm so sorry for missing last Thursday's update, I got depressed again. Didn't feel like getting out of bed. Missed weeks of school. It's a whole cycle.**

 **Anyway, I apologize again for missing Thursday, I really am sorry.**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

 **Oh, by the way, the bit about Barney forcing children to be happy is real, but it was a long time ago. Apparently, there was this guy who dressed up as a green and purple dinosaur and abducted children and forced them to be happy, and if he saw them make any facial expression that wasn't a smile, he would kill them. Allegedly, that's where the inspiration for the real Barney show came from, because, you know, it hadn't existed yet before that. Except that Barney isn't a psychotic serial killer.**

 **The whole thing kind of reminds me of the song _Mad Hatter_ by _Melanie Martinez_ a little. I recommend her songs if you like dark, deep, baby themed stuff and lots of swearing and knives in the music videos.**

 **Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope you'll be back for the next one.**

 **Bye!**

 ** _\- Pandemonium King_**


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